3/11/2010 @ 4:30PM

Lessons From Meg Whitman's Mom

In her campaign to become governor of California in the November 2010 elections, Meg Whitman is exercising leadership skills as well as the penchant for risk taking that she showed as chief executive of
eBay
.

She joined
eBay
(leaving behind a job at an established company where she oversaw well-known brands) when it was still a fledgling startup with just 30 employees. Over the years Whitman grew eBay into a household-name company with some 15,000 employees and $8 billion in revenues.

Earlier in her career she advanced to increasingly senior roles by moving from
Procter & Gamble
to Bain Capital Consultants to
Walt Disney
to Stride Rite, FTD and then
Hasbro
. All the while she raised two sons with her neurosurgeon husband.

Looking back on Whitman’s career you can see a relentless courage to try new things, which led her from traditional jobs to a startup and now to her latest endeavor, a foray into the public sector.

When she reflects on her past successes and current challenges, Whitman invariably cites the influence of her mother, who, she says, instilled in her “a bias for action.”

Here she speaks to ForbesWoman about how her mother helped shape the person she is today.

“From the time I was a little girl my mother encouraged me to have a bias for action. She used to say that the things that are worth doing will be hard, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know if you can do them. She said the price of inaction can be far greater than making a mistake–which you can almost always fix.

“My mother did unusual things in her life. During World War II she volunteered for the Red Cross, which [brought] her to New Guinea. The plan was that women would wind bandages and dab wounds in the infirmary. But the base in New Guinea was desperately short of mechanics and Mom volunteered to learn. By the end of her four-and-a-half-year tour, she was a fully certified truck and airplane mechanic.

“When I was 6 years old my mother and her best friend convinced their husbands to buy them each a camping van. And off we went–my mom, my sister, brother and me, and my mom’s best friend and her five kids–on a three-month camping trip around the U.S.

“Our dads flew out to join us for just two weeks, but the rest of the time it was eight kids, two women, a bag of maps and gear–and no cell phones or hotel reservations. We visited Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, other national parks and then California. We had the time of our lives. And the next summer we traveled again, to Alaska.”

“In the 1970s my mom was invited to be part of group of women, led by actress Shirley MacLaine, to visit China. There were lots of reasons not to go: China was then an undeveloped country that had been closed to outsiders for many years. And my mom had just 10 days to get ready. But instead of worrying about her safety, she seized the chance to have an adventure. Over four weeks the group covered 2,000 miles in China, mostly by train, visiting schools, farms and villages.

“That trip changed my mother’s life and, indirectly, mine, too. My mom learned Mandarin in subsequent years and returned to China 80 times. And after her first trip she told my sister and me, ‘I’ve seen women doing all sorts of marvelous things–so realize you have the opportunity to do and be anything you want.’

“My mother taught me that you don’t have to be perfect to be a leader, but you can’t be timid.

“That lesson is part of the reason I went to eBay. I’d been running a multimillion-dollar business at Hasbro but sensed a very big opportunity the first time I met the founders of eBay. They’d created a brand that was very functional because it allowed people to trade in a way that was cheaper and faster. But it was also a brand people could feel emotionally attached to. If you were a teapot collector, you could meet other teapot collectors, for instance. You could do business and also make best friends on eBay.

“My political campaign is another adventure for me that I think is worthwhile. California has a high unemployment rate, and I’m someone who knows a lot about the economy and the conditions needed to help business thrive. I think I can make a difference.”